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Strategies to Improve Communities <br />A Mix of Survey and Administrative Data in a Community <br />Scorecard <br />Littleton, Colorado <br />The City of Littleton, Colorado produces an annual <br />community scorecard <br />(htto: / /www.littletoneov.ore /modules /showdocume <br />nt.asgx?dpcumentid=g2781 that presents data <br />related to its City Council's goals. In the 2013-2014 <br />report, performance data were presented in the <br />following strategic areas: <br />• Assure a financially -sound city government <br />• Provide a safe community to live, work and play <br />• Develop and maintain the public infrastructure <br />• Preserve and cultivate a quality community <br />• Pursue a balanced and sustainable local <br />economy <br />Support environmental sustainability <br />• Foster community involvement, communication <br />and trust <br />The report not only has hard data about sprinkler <br />system installs, budget allocations, number of <br />exhibits, visitors and miles traveled, but it also has <br />resident perspectives about service quality and <br />strategic direction directly from its citizen survey. <br />Not only does the report include results of the survey <br />but it shows how those results compare to results <br />asked of residents in comparison communities. <br />COMMUNITY <br />SCORECARD <br />and Annual Reputl <br />Littleton 2013/2014 <br />Program Evaluation <br />Once you have decided to take action to improve <br />your community, it is important to evaluate the <br />results of your efforts. Strong governing requires <br />both experimentation and use of evaluation data. <br />Strategies to Promote Successful Use of <br />Evaluation <br />• Identify program goals, objectives, and <br />performance measures well in advance of <br />implementing their evaluation <br />• Regularly track service activities and outcomes <br />• Systematically measure service outputs (how <br />many residents attended council meetings last <br />year?) and outcomes (how much did their <br />knowledge of community issues increase?) <br />• Regularly communicate evaluation results to <br />staff, residents, and other stakeholders <br />• Use evaluation data to improve services <br />• Encourage organizational learning <br />Evaluations can be small or large, often based on the <br />price tag of the new initiative. In the Educate section <br />of this playbook, the reimaging campaign <br />undertaken by Greeley, Colorado was presented. <br />Although Greeley has only been working on this new <br />branding initiative a short time, government staff <br />wanted to assess its "penetration" at an early stage, <br />so they launched a short, web -based survey to <br />community stakeholders followed by a survey of <br />residents of Greeley and residents in three of the <br />state's largest cities — Denver, Fort Collins and <br />Colorado Springs. <br />© 2014, National Research Center, Inc. Page 24 <br />